i_disappear A distinct lack of good days (Open)
After his first day in the City, Darien had gone back to his apartment and slept, hoping that he'd wake up and be back in San Digeo. It hadn't worked, of course. Maybe he should've clicked his heels together and asked really nicely.
He had been awoken by the telephone ringing. Though he wasn't unused to that happening, he hadn't been able to stumble out of bed fast enough to reach the phone before the answering machine kicked in. There had been an unfamiliar voice on the line, asking where Darien was and why he hadn't came into work today, and did he really want the boss mad at him again?
Darien had stood by the phone until the machine turned off. That wasn't like his wakeup call would be if it had been the Agency. He didn't know what sort of job he was supposed to have, and right now, it was the least of his worries anyway.
He had ventured back outside that day, taking in the unfamiliar sights and trying to get used to navigating the streets. By some sort of miracle, he had made it back to his apartment before the shootings started. Some of it had scattered over into his street, but Darien had done like any other normal person would and huddled up in his kitchenette, safely out of the path of any windows.
Now on his third day, he slept through the next message on his answering machine, and left his apartment again.
Darien thought he had gotten at least a little used to the shifting streets yesterday, he really had. What little skill he might've picked up seemed gone today. They just kept changing on him, skipping from streets full of shops to residental districts to distinctly run-down looking areas. At one point, he took a shortcut through an open alley in desperation, trying to hurry before the streets changed on him again.
Then he heard footsteps behind him, and the unmistakeable sound of a gun being cocked.
"Hold it. Turn around, slow-like."
With far more practice than he liked having, Darien raised his hands and turned slowly. The other man was standing about ten feet away from him, wearing slightly ratty clothes and holding a gun that almost dwarfed his hand. "Good," the gunman declared almost smugly. "Drop yer wallet. And yer watch."
It would've been smarter to comply, but since when had Darien been smart? "Are you robbing me in broad daylight?" Well, not that you could see the sun past all the clouds, but it was still daytime. It was the principle of the thing.
The robber seemed a bit perturbed that his victim wasn't listening. "I meant it! If I don't see the goods..." He waved the gun, threatningly.
"Ah, I get you," Darien said, the picture of non-chalance. "But you know, you can't shoot what you can't see."
It took only a moment's concentration. Then the silvery liquid seeped out of his skin at a quick rate, covering him from head to toe in the space of a few seconds, silver fading until there was nothing left to see at all.
The robber shifted the aim of his gun from side to side, startled by Darien's sudden disappearance. He took a step back, close to running, but then his head jerked violently to the side, a spot of blood appearing on his lip.
From somewhere in front of him, Darien's voice came out of thin air, slightly pained. "Oh, fuck! What do you have in there, bricks?"
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 12/29/2005 17:58:22
"Would be muggers getting slapped by nothing, voices coming out of thin air, I'm flying in the air above it... just another day in The City," Kyle said in a sing song voice. He descended down from the air with a green glow, relishing the look in the guy's eyes as he came down.
"So." Kyle grabbed the man by the collar in one hand and created a green clamp which snatched the gun from his hands. "You so stupid that you punched yourself? Or am I just completely missing something here? Either way you're going to the cops."
"Twinkle twinkle little star. Oh how green and shiny you are." A moppy brush of red peeked over the rooftop.
Harley had been on her way towards the park. Either the zoo or the public park, she hadn't quite decided yet. Mostly because if she showed up at Red's, and Red would be in the park - she just knew it, with Bud and Lou, there would be no complaints. But if she asked Red to help her fetch her babies... well, sometimes Ivy got picky about things.
But then there had been this marvelous glowing green thing in the sky. And it dropped out of the air, prettier than Batman. And now there it was, a man, talking.
She kicked her legs in the air, as she leaned over the roof, chin propped on her hands like a girl at a slumber party.
"And cute. But that doesn't rhyme with anything." Harley grinned, red lips on a white face. "Well, nothing I could repeat within hearing distance of my puddin'."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 12/29/2005 20:00:32
Darien was just a little bit confused. He had things in control here, or he thought he had. It definitely wasn't the first time he'd gone invisible on someone with a gun. But then these two had shown up, dressed brightly in a way that reminded him of that one guy he had met before. Not to mention the one was glowing, like radioactive things are in cartoons.
He had slipped to the side when the robber was grabbed, his disembodied voice coming from a point close to the wall. "Hey. That was not a slap. And my knuckles are complaining about it, thanks."
As for the robber himself, he was looking pretty bewildered. "Ya can't take me to the cops! Look, it was a misunderstandin'. Take the gun, just let me out of here!"
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 12/29/2005 21:08:23
The voice was coming from the wall now, and then there was one from above, plus the squirming robber in his grip was talking.
Well, one at a time.
Green hand-cuffs for the would be mugger? Check. Kyle clasped the man's hands behind his back and then threw him back against the brick ally wall. "Stay," he said in a voice that was almost threatening, he didn't quite have it down yet but the ring backed him up pretty well.
Next Kyle pulled a green, wide bulbed flashlight out of thin air, enhanced the light and shined it against the wall. "Well you're not a ghost." The light cast a shadow on the ground that looked to be the shape of a person. "All sorts of interesting people in this city.
"And who the heck are you?" He finally looked up and saw the girl in the black and red costume peering over the roof.
For half a minute she'd wondered if she'd gone really loony. A voice out of thin air ? But no, there was Mr. Hot Green Pants, waving his mojo around and showing a real shadow. That meant a real person.
Harley stood up, slinky like. Afterall, what point was there in wearing a skin tight costume if it didn't make a couple fellas need to bend over and keep still.
"I'm." She started, before leaping from the roof, to bounce and dart and somersault her way down to the ground, like a ping pong ball using the alley walls.
"Just a regular ole fashion gal, looking to start a little mayhem, cause a little ruckus. Check out the hotties in town." She landed easily, not in the least self-conscious about her acrobatic skills. Meta human skills.
"After all, something's got to compensate for this whackjob place even existing."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 12/29/2005 21:28:08
Well, great. The radioactive man had something that could see him. Again, it wasn't the first time, but he couldn't help but hate when people did that.
Darien whistled after the lady made it to the ground. Now that had been something to see. "I hear you about the compensation thing. I'm personally waiting for a check."
He stepped away from the wall, stopping the flow of Quicksilver as he did so. With it, little silver flakes fell to the ground, revealing him now that the coating was gone.
"And I'm not a ghost. Just happened to be in the wrong place when Bubba here came along." Darien cast a pointed look at the magically-cuffed robber.
"But what about you?," he asked of the other guy. "What's that.. that thing you're doing?"
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 12/29/2005 21:49:52
Looking to start mayhem and ruckus? Was that supposed to win her any friends? Kyle was duely impressed as she bounced down from the roof, but completely on guard as well, ring at ready.
"I'm the Green Lantern," he said, wondering how it was that the guy had never heard of him or any of the others. Green Lanterns weren't exactly obscure in the world, at least not on Earth where they weren't being exterminated left and right. "Green suit... power ring. It all goes with the package."
The quicksilver fading away from the guy didn't phase him too much, he'd seen odder. "And you are...?"
Harley didn't wait for him to answer. She leaned against the wall, ignoring 'The Green Lantern' for now, but looking the previously invisible man over, from head to toe. " Disappearing buildings. Reappearing men. The men part is definitely better. Means maybe some o the more interesting folk'll turn up. Like My Mistah J." She sighed softly, going a bit relaxed all over.
But the moment passed quickly and she brightened and perked, then jerked a finger in Green Boy's direction. "Speaking o'interesting characters. As cute as that tushie might be, the guy dressed up as the Emerald City Robin, stinks of party pooper."
She gave GL a sad smile, looking as if she wanted to pat him on the head. "It's the handcuffs really, dead giveaway. A real man'd a clocked him cold."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 12/29/2005 22:45:52
He couldn't help but look a little amused at what she was saying, and how she was acting for that matter. Talk about being all over the place. He did have to agree with using the handcuffs, though.
"I'm Darien," he said, addressing them both. "I don't have a... codename, or a porn name, or whatever that was." The guy saying he had a power ring meant nothing to Darien, but this wasn't the time or place to ask about it further.
"So, the costumes.. not really for a party thing, I'm guessing?" Couldn't be, not after the displays of power going on. He was starting to wonder who they worked for.
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 01/02/2006 17:44:21
Kyle was still marveling over the fact that this guy had never heard of him. Or rather, his predecessors. "No, not for a party. I'm a--" Ugh. I'm a superhero, was going to sound so weird. "Rather, I help people. The one in the red and black clown suit? I don't know what she is, though I'm thinking if I'd paid attention in that one JLA briefing then I would know."
She bowed, sweepingly, and popped up with a showman's flourish. "Presenting the Queen of Comedy. Delightful, Desired, Deranged. The lovely, the luscious, the amazingly talented." She licked her lips and flickered her tongue briefly. "Harley Quinn."
Harley laughed. "I'd show you my card, but I just broke out of prison. I haven't had any made up yet. I know, it's bad of me. But what can I say, I'm a girl with priorities, and shopping was first on the list."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 01/02/2006 18:11:32
"Broke out?"
Oh, great. Hearing that made Darien wonder if he was supposed to try to arrest her. Of course, hearing her name didn't give any clues as to who she was, and who knew what the police would think of him showing off a Fish and Game badge.
Crap, he couldn't do that. He hardly knew how to go about doing it. Hobbes had been the one who did all the arresting, not him.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I know how things pile up after you get out." Darien cast a glance towards the Green Lantern, wondering what he'd think of all this.
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 01/02/2006 18:37:26
Oh. Well didn't that just take the cake?
"Arkham's Harley Quinn?" Kyle asked, ring hand tensing immediately. He didn't actially need her to confirm it, he knew. He would have known sooner had he paid attention in that stupid meeting. "Great."
She did an easy backflip, away from the longjohns-would-be-Robin and then jumped up, to catch a hold of the fire-escape's ladder, tumbling herself up onto its balcony.
"Well y'know, it's prolly likely you read one of my books. I could see you needing 'I'm Ok. You're Ok. He's Kind Of Weird.' Because really, green pajamas, a mask, glowing things. You'd have to need reassurance that a woman could love you."
She reached a hand up to another ladder rung. "But something tells me, your surprise is more of that party pooper attitude."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 01/02/2006 19:15:53
That Harley woman moved like a gymnast, but then he remembered how she had got down to the alley in the first place and decided it was more like a cross between a gymnast and Jackie Chan. Good thing he had kept the badge tucked away after all.
"I have to admit, man, she's got a point," he said to Green Lantern. Darien casually strolled down the alley a few feet, not getting closer to the fire escape but making sure he'd be out of the way if something happened between the two. More like when, not if, judging by the Lantern's reaction.
"Hey, what's Arkham?," he called up to Harley, ever-questioning in weird situations like this. Trying to making sure he wasn't percieved as taking sides helped too.
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 01/02/2006 19:32:02
"It's an asylum for the mentaly insane," Kyle answered first, giving Harley a pointed look. "She's definitely one who belongs there. I don't know how she got out, that place is supposed to be air tight." He was going to have to find some other hero type that he knew and let them know she was out.
"And they're not pajamas, Harley. You wouldn't say that to Batman would you?"
"Batjerk ? He wears leather tights. Always trying to show off his package." She leaned on the stairs and called down to GL, voice soft and coaxing.
"Have you been noticing his package, little jammie boy ? Is that why you so want to be his Robin ?"
And then, in a giggling, gossipy tone, she called over to Darien. "I always wondered about those two. In my professional opinion, you don't stay attached to a man with such serious identity issues, unless you love him. Deeply."
She giggled again. "I mean, you'd have to be bat-fuck insane!" And then, still laughing, Harley flipped over the edge of the roof, back onto it's surface and out of sight.
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 01/02/2006 21:09:02
The thing about leather tights was pretty interesting, but the rest of it went over his head. Batman and Robin... that sounded like the fake-names the two here had. How many of those people were around here, anyway?
Darien watched as she disappeared, then shook his head. "Well, that could've gone worse." Yeah, it could've been much worse. He was actually pretty glad that fighting hadn't broken out.
He turned to the Green Lantern. "So what're you going to do with that guy, again?" he asked, tilting his head towards the cuffed robber.
From: [info]i_imagine Date: 01/02/2006 22:31:17
"Uh..." Wow. Way to go with the forward thinking, Kyle. Had it been New York, he'd have had no problem bagging a crook and dragging them straight to a cop. There were police on every corner. Here though, the police presense didn't seem to be as heavy, and Kyle didn't know where the precinct station was in this area.
"I'll think of something," Kyle finally answered, looking back and throwing a green gag in the guy's mouth for good measure. "So... I don't think I caught your name."
From: [info]i_disappear Date: 01/02/2006 22:52:11
Darien wasn't too worried at hearing that answer. The kid didn't seem like someone who'd just leave the robber there, or do worse to him, for that matter. Might as well leave it to him, since he had it in hand already.
"Darien Fawkes. And thanks for taking care of that guy... he kinda caught by surprise." As things tended to do while walking down alleys. He was really going to have to pay more attention to what he was doing.